Police Car Moth / Gnophaela vermiculata

Taken on August 20th in the forest at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. A very grainy image - didn't realize how bad it was until I just uploaded to Flickr, ha. I still remember how thrilled I was when I saw my very first Police Car Moth - and since then have seen so many. I have just been trying to find out on the Internet why some of these Moths appear to be brown and white, not black and white. Male/female? Age? Light?

"This is a fairly large moth with a wingspan of up to 50 mm. The wings are jet black with large white patches between the black scaled veins. As well, there are two orange patches of hairs on either side of the thorax, right behind the head. It is this colour combination, that of an old style police car, that gives it its name. Larvae are hairy and black with yellow and blue markings. The Police Car Moth is found throughout the province in or near forested areas. Adults fly throughout July and early August." From www.royalalbertamuseum.ca.

Posting really early this morning, as I have a day of botanizing. I was glued to my TV set till the early hours of the morning, watching the progress of Hurricane Irene and hoping against hope that it will somehow veer off to the right. My thoughts are with all those who have been, and will be, affected by this powerful act of nature.